With New Generals To Be Elected, End Of `Council Wars` Is Just

Days Away

February 22, 1987|By Robert Davis, Tribune reporter.

Oh, by the way, there`s another election Tuesday--45, in fact, and although aldermanic contests often are regarded as the neglected stepchildren of Chicago elections, the administration of Mayor Harold Washington has shown that the city council`s makeup can be the name of the game in government.

Five of the city`s incumbent aldermen are unopposed. But most of the remaining 45 wards have been the scenes of heated electioneering for the last two months, with nearly a dozen candidates in some wards.

It is unlikely that the election will give a clear picture of which direction the council will go. To win, a candidate must get a majority of the votes cast. And with more than 230 candidates for the 50 council seats, it is likely that several runoff elections between the two top vote-getters in some wards will be required on April 7.

No matter who is elected mayor in the April 7 general election, the winner will have to deal with a council that, after nearly four years of

``Council Wars,`` has shown that it can be more than just the rubber stamp it was under 21 years of rule by Mayor Richard J. Daley.

The council, more or less, remained a reliable mayoral tool under Daley`s successor, Michael A. Bilandic, and even delivered a comfortable majority for Jane Byrne during her four-year reign. But Harold Washington, in his first days in office, pronounced that the old ways were over, and he tried to restructure the council, prying away the powers of old-line machine aldermen. He failed.

Rallied by Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th), 29 aldermen united in an anti-administration bloc that overwhelmed the 21 supporters of the mayor for the first three years of his administration. It was not until the federal court-ordered special aldermanic elections were held last year that the numbers shifted to 25-25, giving the mayor his crucial tie-breaking vote in the council.

City Hall insiders are predicting that after Tuesday`s aldermanic elections and the April 7 mayoral election, ``Council Wars`` probably will be a thing of the past.

For one thing, some of the major protagonists will be gone.

Vrdolyak is not running for re-election to his Far South Side aldermanic post, choosing instead to make a run for the mayor`s office on the Illinois Solidarity Party ticket. He has anointed his brother Victor to succeed him, but he faces a hefty challenge from Clement Balanoff, a member of another 10th Ward political family. Even if Victor Vrdolyak is elected Tuesday, it is unlikely that a quieter member of the Vrdolyak clan will assume a major leadership role on the council.

Washington`s other chief council opponent, Ald. Edward Burke (14th), is unopposed in his re-election bid. But in recent months, stripped of much of his power as chairman of a diluted Finance Committee, he has shown a diminished appetite for council conflict, resigning himself to his reduced role until, perhaps, a new mayor comes along.

Also leaving the council is Ald. Martin Oberman (43d), who served for years as the council`s chief scold and who chose not to seek re-election. It is commonly accepted that Oberman, robbed of his main issue of reform when self-proclaimed reformer Harold Washington became mayor, has grown weary of city council duties and is scouting for a new political arena.

It is unlikely that the philosophies of the next set of aldermen will differ much from those on the current council.

In the predominantly black wards of Chicago, most of the many candidates have pledged their support to Washington; so even if some incumbents are bumped off in the Tuesday election or in runoff elections on April 7, it is likely that their successors will remain loyal to Washington if he is re-elected.

And if Washington is re-elected, City Hall insiders predict that several aldermen who remained in the Vrdolyak group during the mayor`s first four years will swing over to support Washington.

But if there is a new mayor, the calculation changes.

Freed from the racial stratification that characterized the ``Council Wars`` scenario, with all the council`s black aldermen and some white and Hispanic independents supporting Washington and the remaining white aldermen opposing him, the new Chicago City Council could become a power brokerage.

For example, the four Hispanic aldermen who are certain to be elected this year, could end the 2-2 split that now exists and form an important swing bloc in council voting.

The independent aldermen from the north lakefront wards and the Hyde Park community, where Ald. Lawrence Bloom (5th) is unopposed, could go their own ways.

And the current council`s freshmen aldermen, if re-elected, probably will feel free to stray from their former allegiances, convinced they have built a strong enough power base in their own wards to act more independently.

The next set of Chicago aldermen will be financially better off than the current one. Beginning in April, aldermanic salaries will jump to $40,000 a year from $27,600 for their four-year terms, a fact that undoubtedly attracted many in the record-high field of candidates.

Only the city`s voters and taxpayers will decide if they get their $2 million worth from the new city council.